


Between bubbles

by darkrogue1 (Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse)



Category: Blake et Mortimer | Blake and Mortimer
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble Collection, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:13:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8409904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse/pseuds/darkrogue1
Summary: Small stories between the boxes and bubbles of Blake and Mortimer. Begins slowly with the Mystery of the Great Pyramid and follows wikipedia's chronological order. Slash, although Professor Mortimer is a bit slow. Beta-read and edited by Blackpenny





	1. I Serve Science and It's My Joy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blackpenny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackpenny/gifts).
  * A translation of [Entre les bulles](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2665652) by [darkrogue1 (Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse/pseuds/darkrogue1). 



Professor Philip Mortimer is a scientist, a researcher. Despite the deductions he makes during his adventures, he prefers to adhere rigorously to the scientific method; none of the inventions to his credit were created by chance.  
  
Of course, sometimes his mind makes a supposition and offers an assumption with seemingly no connection whatsoever to what he has observed previously. Sometimes he has good intuitions and he listen to them. It’s part of what makes him a good researcher. However, as long as they have not been proven, these conjectures are only hypotheses and as a scientist, he waits to prove them before deeming them as true and accurate.  
  
"Francis likes to suffer," whispers his instinct one day. It’s at the precise moment when he really would like to strangle his friend for making him believe he was dead and, for an instant, in the eyes of the captain, he reads a permission to do so, almost an invitation. Yet he does not and gives the captain a warm hug instead. Still, after sharing so many adventures with his friend this revelation surprises him and he archives it for future consideration. They have other worries at the moment.  
  
Philip Mortimer is a hedonist. He enjoys life and the pleasures it brings him. He is strong in the face of pain and knows to endure it when he must, but he certainly does not appreciate it. The war has changed him; in his nightmares, the fears of his youth are have mostly given way to the memories of death and torture under the cruel laughter of Colonel Olrik.  
  
Philip Mortimer does not like pain, neither receiving nor inflicting it, even if his quick temper sometimes incites him to retaliate against injustice. Once things calm down after their Egyptian adventure, he wonders about this new trait he has noticed in his old friend Blake. He remembers the years spent alongside the captain, his somewhat extreme reactions to any pain, his delighted air when he comes to after being suffocated or strangled. So it's true, it cannot be otherwise: Francis Blake likes being made to suffer.  
  
To think that in twenty years, he had not noticed. For Philip Mortimer, this casts a shadow of his own making on their old friendship. What else might he have missed? He resolves to pay more attention to his comrade in the future.


	2. Nothing Makes You Suffer More Than Love

Captain Francis Blake is a masochist, like his hero T.E. Lawrence. As far back as he can remember, pain was always related to a strange diffuse pleasure. In his historical reconstructions games, he preferred glorious desperate heroism. This personal trait is not something he has explored to any degree. Actually, it is only fairly recently that he has better understood what it is about.  
  
During the case of the Yellow Mark, his friend, Professor Mortimer, had summarized for him the current scientific knowledge of the brain's working, and, during the conversation, the subject had deviated slightly. This is when he learned that in some people the circuits informing the brain of pain and pleasure are so mingled that the use of one triggers the other, and so these people might seek pain to experience pleasure.  
  
The captain does not particularly seek pain, which could be very dangerous in his trade and even make him take unnecessary risks. He does not pursue his personal pleasure in his various activities. Blake only seeks excellence; everything about him has a purpose.

  
Francis Blake is pragmatic. Nothing he does is useless, even recreation: golf for professional networking; yachting to improve marine survival; polo for riding, precision of strike, training and body control in addition to his military fitness routine. Besides, all these sports are what a gentleman should know. Even his club serves to simplify his meals and his social life.  
  
Each activity he chooses corresponds to a facet of his life. So far, all of them have been used to prepare or improve his career, or nearly so. There is an exception to this principle in his resume, an aberration that his father had never understood. Because even if he says he needed to "live and learn" and even if political sciences have been useful for his career, it is for an entirely different reason that Blake studied archeology at university.  
  
Francis Blake is a very good actor. Early in life he learned the necessity of mastery the display of his emotions. The very first test of his heart taught him well. The target of his affections was inappropriate from every point of view, so he had to hide it from the world.  
  
An adrenaline rush at first glance, shudder at first contact, attraction at first conversation, this love at first sight had almost been cliched. After twenty-four hours spent in great proximity, telling each other their life stories, looking into each other's eyes, Blake’s heart was immediately lost*. If the match had been suitable would have been for the best, but unfortunately it was not. Unrequited, contrary to popular morals, and illegal, his love was doomed from the start.  
  
Since Blake had not managed to forget or ignore the object of his affection, he instead learned to hide, to control his feelings, his emotions, his reactions. Blake had chosen the only socially acceptable option. The fact that Lawrence of Arabia had studied archeology was just a handy excuse. He needed a scientific background and a common topic of conversation. Whatever happened, he HAD to remains friends with Philip Mortimer.

  
Twenty-five years after their first meeting nothing has changed. Captain Francis Blake is a masochist and his having moved in with Professor Philip Mortimer is the truest expression of it. After all, what pain is softer and what ecstasy is more painful than that of living close to one's beloved without touching or even admitting one's desire.

 

*cf Aron study http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/02/12/love-in-the-lab/


	3. The Heart Has its Reasons of Which Reason Knows Nothing

As he promised himself, Philip Mortimer pays more attention to his friend Francis, when he thinks about it. If he noticed anything, it is that his friend has the gift of putting him at ease and making him forget everything that is not their conversation of the moment.  
  
Like him, Francis is dedicated to his work. Probably more dedicated, actually. The professor might live in the same apartment as the head of MI5, but he barely meets him. They do not always work the same hours and they are often away on business travel. Certainly, they spend several hours under the same roof: each sleeping in his own room. The one place where they can really meet at is the Centaur Club - which Blake is a member of - when the latter invites him to dinner.  
  
Life holds lots of work, little leisure, many acquaintances,  distant friends and colleagues, and few relations still in touch. Since the departure of Nasir, who has returned to India, the Captain’s only real attachment seems to be to Mortimer himself.  
  
Francis is a man of action; always moving, always busy, never on vacation. As a friend, Philip Mortimer decides that it is his duty to remind his old comrade to take one from time to time, even offering to share his own. This seems to tempt the captain slightly more.  
  
All that the professor deduces is that his friend cares for him. Well, that is mutual, he tells himself.  
  
That's when the case arises. Times are troubled and cases related to espionage frequent. Often these cases involve former Cambridge students, old rivals for Blake, an Oxford man. Often the men under investigation lived their private lives in the shadows, illegally, unlike Blake – of so Mortimer had assumed.  
  
When it all begins, Philip Mortimer is troubled. It only has been a few days since one of his mathematician colleagues died. Hero of the Second World War and pioneer of computer engineering, Alan Turing had himself been embroiled in one of these cases.  
  
Soon after, Blake tells him he has a cousin who frequently contacts him with invitations to visit, a cousin he has already visited, and one Mortimer does not know about; a close acquaintance and he has never heard of her! Yet outside of his work, Blake tends to talk to Mortimer about the mail he receives. The professor is slightly wounded to hear  of this cousin for the first time only now.  
  
And then suddenly, the shock. Incomprehensible! Francis cannot have betrayed his country. Mortimer knows this in his whole being. His reason gives him excuses without end: there must be something else. Even when he discovers the money, evidence of his friend’s guilt, the litany of alternative hypotheses does not stop. Still, there is another voice that overwhelms everything: Francis is in danger, you MUST find and help him.  
  
His reason agrees: if one day he lost all moral sense, he would trust his friend to guide him. Blake is above all doubt; it is impossible that he has turned traitor. But it is what the other voice responds which bothers him: even if Francis were guilty -  even if Philip would join him to be sold to an enemy country - if it could be useful to his friend, he would not regret going, even for a minute. What this means, Philip Mortimer prefers not to think about at all.

  
Then he decides to go find Blake, wherever his path leads.  
  



	4. Voyager

In the freight train, Mortimer, who cannot sleep, has more time to let his thoughts wander.  
  
Within a few hours, without preamble, he has fallen on the wrong side of the law. At the moment he is not risking as much as Blake, but evading the police and stowing away in a cattle car are certainly not commendable actions.  
  
What if he is wrong? What if Blake is not at his Yorkshire cousin’s home? What would happen then? Fugitive, having abandoned his home, his research, his work, without personal resources; is his unfortunate traveling companion a glimpse of the life that awaits him?  
  
Mortimer has no attachments: no children, no wife, no immediate family. His parents have died and he does not see his cousins often. He has only himself to lose… and Blake.  
  
If Philip is wrong, alone, destitute and hunted, he will probably quickly be caught, tried, and imprisoned,  perhaps for quite some time – time away from Francis, who is in danger of death and chased by his own men. If Philip is wrong, his friend might die before they see each other again.  
  
It is, strangely, that which torments him more than anything else. He cannot imagine Francis Blake dead. They have both survived many perils, they have seen comrades and friends die before their eyes and continued on strong despite the sadness and anger. Without Blake, what would Mortimer do?  
  
His work? Yes, of course, if he were allowed to get it back. But as for the rest? Although he seems completely independent in his travels and leisure, Philip Mortimer constantly thinks of his friend. What would Francis think? What would Francis do? I'll have to tell him.  
  
Mortimer has no attachments. His first love, the princess Gita died in tragic circumstances. He had thought he had a chance with Sarah Summertown, but their mutual affection was not strong enough to withstand the challenges of their age difference. After that, Mortimer had some passing flirtations, but nothing serious. His studies on the other side of the Atlantic had not helped along any desire to settle down. Then there was the war.  
  
The war changed everything. The second, but especially the third. Philip Mortimer did not come back broken, traumatized like the war neurotics, but he is not the same. More mature perhaps. Mostly older. All the women he has crossed since then seemed so young, so far from him. He still enjoys a pretty face, a good figure, but it never goes very far. At his age, he has given up the idea of finding a soul mate. Who would understand the nightmares that haunt him still? And with that damned Colonel they seem to find wherever they go, he will not have the chance to forget any time soon. Mortimer quickly makes a prayer: may it be that Olrik is not involved in this already complicated matter!  
  
The war also filtered his friends. Mortimer has a lot of colleagues and acquaintances with whom he gets along very well, but it is only Blake whom he considers his true friend. They have known each other for almost thirty years, and all this time, even separated, they have maintained a regular correspondence. Blake is a friend, almost a brother. No one can replace that.  
  
Which brings him back to Blake. So much for Olrik, Mortimer changes his prayer: may Francis not die! This is the most important point.  
  
Anyway, for now he cannot do anything, so he tries to get some sleep.


	5. I Need Nothing, I Want You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title refers to this song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=figNM5-gHnE

In his room at Mrs. Virginia Campbell’s bed and breakfast, Professor Mortimer contemplates the strange situation he has found himself in by running after his friend Blake.  
  
On one hand, he is relieved and reassured: as he supposed the captain did not, indeed, betray his country. Moreover, his intuition was correct: Blake’s mention of his “cousin" was a clue to follow.  
  
On the other hand, the situation worries him. Blake is playing a very big game here, and while it pleases Mortimer to know that he is the only person his friend can completely trust, how can it be that he – of all people – is the key to the success of Blake’s mission; indeed, the key to the survival of MI5! Despite being embroiled in a number of investigations in the past, Mortimer has no espionage training, no political power, and is in civilian condition. They were a good team during the war, but Mortimer is not twenty anymore! Or even thirty! And certainly does not have the same training as the captain or members of his team.  
  
And then that Mrs. Campbell - Virginia - who is not, in fact, Blake’s cousin. What connection could she have with him outside this counter-spying role? Mortimer is a bit jealous, "Don’t we have a mutual friend? " she had said. If they are both his friends, how come Blake had never spoken of her to him? Francis will have a lot to answer for the next time they meet.  
  
Anyway, the first thing to do is find Francis Blake, and, for want of anything else to do, take some rest.  
  
\-------------------  
  
Two days later, after almost a full day on the road being transported like a package, Mortimer is a bit lost when he arrives at the Cromlech meeting point. The previous day had started badly: he had learned that Blake’s only alibi was in danger of disappearing. Kendall had tracked down Mortimer, and he had been busted like an amateur. But Virginia had saved the day and everything had turned out for the best. With his pipe and the hope of finding Blake at the end of the road, what more did he need?  
  
After almost twenty-four hours the professor is not so sure that's enough. It had reassured him to see that his old friend had so much support and such a strong network, but he still has not found Francis and he begins to feel it has been too long.  
  
Wait and hope? But for how much longer? When he realizes that his watch has stopped, Philip Mortimer turns to the only human figure for kilometers around to ask him for the time.  
  
"It is exactly 10:30, Professor Mortimer. "  
  
A thrill and an impulse of pure joy run through the professor when he hears the warm voice of his friend. They are alone in the middle of nowhere; Francis was the last person he had expected to find here in this  getup. And at that moment, he has a shocking revelation. He loves his friend. Completely. Against all odds. Irrationally.  
  
It takes him a few seconds to get over the shock of this revelation. "Francis? Is that you?” Mortimer stammers the question although in his heart he has no doubt.  
  
With a great inner effort, he manages to control himself. Later. Later. They must first get Francis Blake out of this mess. What a strange idea to get himself into such trouble!


	6. With His Back to the Wall

Up against it, yes, but not taken, that’s the key point.  
Leaning against the cliff, having pushed a rock into the water, Professor Mortimer does his best to hide himself from the gaze of Olrik’s men, his pursuers.  
  
Good, they have not seen him, but hell, they are leaving a sentry. Mortimer silently adjusts his position. No need to be spotted now. It only remains to wait quietly until they’ve given up on finding a body and stop the surveillance.  
  
Mechanically, the professor takes out his pipe and ... "I cannot smoke either."He tells himself. "I would risk raising the alarm. Damn Olrik!"  
  
Just wait. Mortimer tries to calm his heart -- beating fast. He most likely just broke his own speed record, and he has had to run several hundred meters over rough terrain. Love gives you wings.  
  
Panic. His breathing quickens and he opens his mouth to make it less noisy. It's really, really not the time to panic. He makes the effort to think in the midst of a flood of confused thoughts.  
  
The professor breathes slowly and regains his self-control.  
  
Good Lord, but he has chosen a very poor moment to realize something so tremendous. He likes Francis Blake; impossible to doubt it, but since when ?  
  
It’s impossible to say. When he checks his memories, they take on a hue they never had before. "I’m really in for it," thinks the professor. "If a scientist like me cannot even trust his head-"  
  
Francis. A man! And Mortimer who had only looked at women before! He had never had the slightest suspicion of one day experiencing this kind of feeling for someone of his own sex. Mortimer shivers, uncomfortable. Merely to think of a less innocent contact with his friend excites him and knots up his stomach, tenses him and turns his bones to jelly. My God, he had not felt anything like this since he was seventeen. A second spring, now ? And such a change!  
  
Yet no other man would tempt Mortimer even remotely. Oh, Mortimer appreciates beauty in a man as well; an athletic body, a sincere face, a frank look. Mortimer smiles. He compares them all to his friend the captain. Francis Blake is for him the epitome of beauty. Why should that surprise him?  
  
The revelation he has just had is overwhelming. It will change his life. Yet Mortimer is surprised to be so little disturbed. Then again, he is no longer young, he has some experience, he is well traveled, and he has worked alongside all kinds of people. This may explain it. Although homosexuality is considered immoral in his native culture, he knows as an amateur archaeologist that it is not so all over the world, and that it has been different at different times and for different civilizations, and as a scientist keeping abreast of advances in various fields, he knows that even if medicine regards such behavior diseased, homosexual relations are not exclusive to the human species.  
  
Blake, hum. But after all, what does it change?  
  
Nothing, absolutely nothing. Mortimer is not a pessimist, but Blake is so perfect that it is impossible for him to be facing the same dilmna, It would be immoral, illegal, and frowned upon by the secret service. That would never do for Blake.  
  
Perhaps, blind as he is to many things, did he just not see anything? Mortimer cannot help but hope. Hmm, he will have to check.  
  
But there's Virginia Campbell, he thinks, suddenly depressed and consumed with jealousy.  
  
Ha! All this time he was really jealous! Unbelievable.  
  
"Come," he says, "think no more."He listens attentively to what is going on above him, but the guard is still there. "No need to rack your brains, man, you are missing data," he scolds himself.  
  
Action, that's what he needs. To occupy his body and keep his mind distracted. He can't wait for the way to clear!  
  
And Francis? Hopefully he can also escape his pursuers! Mortimer silently reformulates his wish: may it be that Francis Blake does not die!


	7. Love or Friendship

In less than a year, Mortimer has almost died three times. * He doesn’t think of himself as having lived a dangerous life, and yet, there you go. Since his revelation at the Ardmuir cromlech ** nothing had changed. After all, there was no indication that his perfectionist old friend might also experience any tender feeling for him. Also who would dare propose an illicit relationship to the head of MI5?  
  
Yet at the end of year 1954, he feels his resolution change gradually. He now knows his friend Blake enough to sometimes follow the occasional conversational hints. Francis Blake is a very good actor and liar, especially in that he does not lie: he just omits. He leaves his interlocutor to jump to the most obvious conclusion with partial information, misleading him.  
  
So when his friend tells him the details of his academic career he had not included in his letters, and what happened to him during his counter-spy training period, when he had stopped the correspondence. Mortimer feels Blake choose his words carefully. And when the Captain speaks of Vernon Kell, Philip Mortimer begins to hope. If Francis could have been "seduced" by a man, then maybe… and then there was the captain’s disheveled appearance, the emotion in his voice shouting Mortimer's name when the professor was in danger of being crushed by the power press.  
  
More importantly, Philip Mortimer has absolute confidence in Francis Blake and his strong friendship. Whatever he may say, it is impossible that his friend would completely deny him.  
  
But he must remain cautious. Even if it were certain that Blake could think of him in the same way – which he is not - he remains hesitant. Francis is head of MI5 and has a reputation to maintain. He must wait for the right opportunity.  
  
Mortimer has no doubt that the opportunity will present itself. Is he not now a member of the same club as Francis Blake?

 

  
  
* See "The Strange Encounter" and "The Oath of the five Lords."  
** See previous chapters.


	8. Curse

Mortimer had never realized how little he and Blake saw each other. They do not keep the same hours at all. Fortunately he is a member of the Centaur Club alongside his friend, allowing him to pass him by sometimes late when he leaves his job, without having to wait for his friend to invite him. They are almost never alone; someone or something always interrupts them after a few minutes of conversation, Francis's work, mainly. But Philip is  often away for his also, and this makes their meetings a lot less frequent.  
  
Francis Blake has been busy this year with the preparation of the Geneva Summit of July, for example. And Philip Mortimer also traveled to the Swiss city for a conference on the peaceful use of atomic energy, but one month later, so they have yet again passed each other by almost without seeing each other.  
  
Realizing that his opportunity would never come if he did not create it, Mortimer has decided to persuade his friend to synchronize his schedule with him for a fortnight’s holiday in the Lake District, in the most romantic part of England, between Scotland and Wales. With these arrangements, the devil take it if he does not find an opening.  
  
And then, again, fate gets in their way. Olrik! Always Olrik! And Francis, who does not want Philip to accompany him!  
  
The invitation for Greece is just in time to distract Mortimer, who begins to believe that his love is cursed.  
  
\------------------  
  
Olrik, Olrik again. Professor Mortimer would almost like to thank his old enemy for being in on it this time and so to have given him the opportunity to recall Blake from Washington. If, that is, if the colonel had not tried to kill them - and almost succeeded – first Mortimer by shipwreck, then Francis by torpedo.  
   
Again and again, life throws obstacles in his path, but Mortimer does not complain: they are both still alive and can finally spend time together, even if they are not alone thanks to Eleni and Jessie. And Blake’s compliments are rare; to hear him say, "You are beautiful, Philip," even if it was slightly mocking, warmed Mortimer heart.  
  
Suddenly, the opportunity presents itself when they go back to explore Syrenios' cave. But they are both focused on the secret they seek to break through, and, in the boat on the way back to the village, Mortimer does not dare start the conversation that -- even if he does not admit so to himself --  he dreads as much as he wants.  
  
That evening, he blames himself a little, but solving the mystery at hand is their top priority. With more urgency than ever, he tries to find a solution.  
  
\------------------  
  
Olrik ! Eternally Olrik. Why the hell is Mortimer still surprised to find that devil in his path? Once again they find themselves in the water, but once again, the stars are favorable - it is literally name of the yacht of the Robinsons, who save them from the wreckage.  
  
Three days later they are in Athens, at the heart of the Embassy of Great Britain, when they finally appear to have regained control of the situation and have before them several days of respite. Mortimer decides that, Godspeed, it's now or never.


	9. Irrational, Unreasonable, Reasonless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is the album where they will not stop falling in the drink... it seemed normal that it also was the time to take the plunge.

In the evening, in the room made available to them by the Embassy, as they prepare for bed, it is Blake who initiates the conversation.  
  
"We're playing a dangerous game, Philip. I have no right to ask you to take such a risk. "  
  
And this, too, reassures Mortimer on the fact that his friend cares for him.  
  
"Come on, old chap," he says. "You know me. I will not leave the sensation of discovering the tomb of Judas to anyone else. If it exists." It is the truth, but it omits the fact that he also does not want to leave his friend to risk his life alone, especially if Olrik is involved. That, however, seems too compromising to blurt out so directly in this intimate atmosphere  
  
"Besides, speaking of emotions, Francis," he continues diplomatically, “there is something I have wanted to tell you for some time. "  
  
At these words, the captain turns his head in surprise to look at the professor.   
  
" Oh," he says, before heading to his friend, absentmindedly discarding his tie on the way. What could Philip have to say to him in such a serious tone? The atmosphere has grown tense in seconds. "I am listening, Philip." He sits on his bed, facing Mortimer.  
  
The professor then steels himself, but he has totally forgotten the little speech he had carefully prepared. Too bad, he has already waited long enough: he takes the plunge. "Francis, my dear," he begins, "we have known each other for nearly thirty years. I ... "  
  
He hesitates, looks down at his hands he holds tight in one another and raises his head.  
  
They had met a long time ago, and for more than ten years they have not lost sight of each other. Francis knows his friend well and there are not many subjects that make him hesitate. He feels his blood freeze: Philip is in love. Jessie? The last few days, the captain tried to constantly place himself between his friend and the one he occasionally calls his naiad. Has Philip decided to follow her to the States?  
  
But Mortimer continues, interrupting Blake's dark thoughts. "I… I have noticed that... for some time... I have a tenderness for you that goes beyond friendship. " There. The main point is told. Mortimer watches Blake's face, fearing any unfavorable signs. Should he go on?  
  
Francis is extremely surprised. He blinks, mouth ajar, and Mortimer decides to push through, extending a hand to his friend as a sign of openness: "I hope I'm right.. when I guess that you're not... indifferent."  
  
"Philip."  
  
Blake has interrupted him, half rising to catch the extended hand in both his, leaning forward. There was too much space between their beds. "Oh, Philip," he says in turn, eyes shining with emotion, "You are not mistaken."  
  
The foreboding atmosphere of the room vanishes to make room for another kind of tension, and Mortimer covers the hands of his friend with his remaining hand. This simple contact between them is not new but tonight it takes on an additional meaning.  
  
Their eyes speak for themselves, even if they do not verbalize any of the thoughts they exchange during that time. How long they have taken to find each other! A long time! They relish the moment. Both are certain at this point that nothing will make them lose the love, trust, and friendship they feel for each other.  
  
Yet after taking the first step with this confession, they are reluctant to move forward. Mortimer had the courage to speak first, so it is up to Blake to bring the subject. Philip loves him. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. And this time he is sure that they are on the same wavelength.  
  
And it is with this feeling that Blake smiles the mischievous smile he has sometimes and indulges in a little weak humor." My dear friend," he says, matching words with deeds,  "given the country where we are, even if it’s a little cavalier, I hope you will allow me this  gesture I have often dreamed to use while facing you."  
  
Moving a little closer to Mortimer, Blake stretches a hand toward the bearded cheek of his friend and puts the other on his crotch, as in the seductive gesture of ancient Greece.  
  
Surprised, Mortimer lets out a cry and gets up abruptly. "By Jove, Francis!" But he recovers quickly and helps up his friend whom he had inadvertently shoved back. "Old chap, if that is your knowledge of the classics, I pity your university teachers,” he teases. Then, copying in turn the gesture previously done by his friend. "Of the two of us, which one is the most bearded? "  
  
" Oh!" Francis exclaims softly, closing his eyes at his touch, clutching a shoulder, an arm to counter the intensity of the sensation. Then after a moment he opens his eyes to take his friend's face between his hands. "You're far too rational, Philip." He murmurs before drawing their faces together for a first kiss.  
  
The rustle of the mustache Blake against his upper lip is a completely new sensation for Mortimer who has previously only kissed women, but the contact of their lips raises in him a stronger emotion than anything he has felt in his life so far.  
  
An old memory echoes in his mind before disappearing: "Only irrational love is pure. The rational is foolishness."  
  
And when at last they separate after what seems both an eternity and too short a time, he whispers. "Let's be unreasonable together, Francis. If you will?"  
  
\------------------  
  
The next morning, after waking, Blake helps his old friend to get up, holding out his hand in an unusual way.  
  
"Philip," he tells him in all seriousness, "I do not know if you think like me, but I would prefer that we remain discreet."  
  
"Of course," interrupts his friend. "I know your position as head of MI5 requires you to be beyond reproach." Mortimer hesitates a moment. "I would not make you risk permanent illegality so, and ..."  
  
Francis Blake smiles then and interrupts him. "Old chap, if it was the illegality that scared me, we would only have had to cross the street to find a hotel. It has been nearly three years since anything we did or spoke of last night has been illegal in this country. "*  
  
" But then... "  
  
"Even if minds change, our country may not be ready to accept such relations** immediately, but Philip, as you may have noticed last night, you are more important to me than my career. But if we could stay discreet in public..."  
  
"Of course, Francis. Of course. I won't object to that. "  
  
Blake then tilts his head to languorously kiss his friend and lover.  
  
Then, as they prepare to go for breakfast, the captain asks again: "Are you really sure you want to accompany me to look for this grave, Philip?"  
  
This time nothing masks the anxiety he feels for the man he loves.  
  
Mortimer smiles. "Come on Francis, you know that I would follow you into Hell."  
  
Given their destination, this turn of phrase is more than appropriate. "To Hell and back, then. Let us not forget to come back, shall we? "  
  
\------------------  
  
And so, back in London, when they meet at the Centaur Club after completing their Greek adventure, they begin a new habit of communicating between words.  
  
When Mortimer says, "There is not an archaeologist on earth that would not give half his life to experience the emotion I felt holding this sack in my hands,” Blake is not certain whether they speak only of the container of Judas Iscariot's denarii. And since his friend suggests they go have dinner – well!  
  
"Tell me, Philip, how about sharing a small digestive home after dinner? "More than the activity, the proposal is unusual and Mortimer makes no mistake in understanding what is implied.  
  
"Very good idea, Francis." He nods, putting back his pipe in his mouth. "Did you have a particular idea?" he adds teasingly.  
  
"What about letting the dinner inspire us?" answers the captain most innocently.  
  
And when James announces that this evening menu includes Greek kebabs, it is not only because that menu is not at all a change from their journey that Blake and Mortimer exchange a knowing smile.  
  


 

  
  
    * Decriminalization of sexual acts between men dates from 1951 in Greece.  
   ** A committee was appointed by the Home Office to reassess the law concerning homosexual offenses in August 1954, but decriminalization will come only in 1967  
   
  



	10. Her Majesty's Secret Service

Back in London after their Greek adventure, Captain Blake, head of MI5 and commander William Steele, MI6 chief first spend time in their respective offices to oversee the conclusions of their teams and write their own report. Late in the afternoon, they meet at the Intelligence Service headquarters to report to their direct superior, Colonel Dorian Cartwright, director of the IS.  
  
Having received the congratulations of his chief, the captain is in good spirits when his colleague, having also submitted his brief, calls him out in the corridor.  
  
"Wait up, Francis, do you have a moment? I know you look forward to enjoying your vacation, but I think that what I have to communicate to you will interest you. Come with me to my office. "  
  
Intrigued by the vagueness of this request, the captain follows his colleague without hesitation, wondering what secret information the chief of foreign intelligence would want to share with him; something sufficiently secret as to not be breached even in the corridors of the Intelligence Service headquarters, yet not critical enough to have been mentioned in the office of Colonel Cartwright.  
  
Passing his secretary,  the commander states that he wishes to be disturbed under no circumstances outside of an emergency, confirming to Blake the importance of the information his colleague and friend wants to share with him.  
  
And once in the office and the door closed behind them, the mystery continues.  
  
"Can I get you a drink, Francis? "Steele offers, going towards the bottle on a table and pouring its contents into a glass first, and seeing that the captain refuses with a move of his hand. " No ? I for one am going to need it, if you don’t mind"  
  
"Come on William, why so mysterious? What can you can you have to tell me?" Blake takes out his pipe and makes himself comfortable in his usual chair.  
  
"Mind you, my dear fellow, these recent days have been a bit hectic for me, so, even though I know I delay the start of your honeymoon, you will have to forgive me in exchange for the trouble you may have caused me. "  
  
Blake is so surprised and shocked that he drops his pipe.  
  
"Oh, do not look at me like that, Francis! My job is to gather information, but also to check it: when I hear a rumor, I investigate! "  
  
The captain picks up his pipe, not knowing what else to do.  
  
"What the hell were you thinking? "Steele carries on. "In the midst of the British Embassy, surrounded by MI6 men? What's more, with an open window? If that's what you call discretion, I'm getting worried for your services and for our country. "  
  
Blake flushes at the insult to his professionalism, but William Steele is not entirely wrong.  
  
"William  - "  
  
"Anyway, I wanted to warn you that I have spent the last days keeping this information and its possible ramifications in check. Your file has been updated, of course."  
  
Blake pales. He knows well the various problems that the services have had with gay officers in the past. They are the object of distrust, increased surveillance or worse.  
  
"But Colonel Cartwright and I agreed,” continues commander Steele without stopping at his colleague's distress, “the upshot is, there’s no danger to national security; NTR: Nothing to report. As if this whole thing had never happened. "  
  
Blake allows himself a sigh of relief and Steele takes a swig of his drink.  
  
"My God, Francis, I have known you since we did our training side by side, but I never suspected that you, well...." Steele finishes his drink in one gulp and helps himself to a second one. "Sometimes, in my profession, there are some things I'd rather not know. "  
  
Blake knows he owes a great debt to William Steele, who has probably just saved his career. “William, I do not know how –”  
  
But Steele cuts Blake’s thanks short. "Do not thank me Blake. As stated in your file, neither you nor Professor Mortimer are likely to go to the enemy. To put you under surveillance would be a useless waste of time and resources. I just wanted to let you know that you have friends, Francis. Our services owe you a lot and you have support. "  
  
"Thank you William."  
  
The captain is sincere. Then he realizes that his boss, whose office he has just left, is in the know. The old man had not betrayed a thing!  
  
"And Cartwright? " he asks,  still a bit worried.  
  
"I think he is sincere when he congratulates you and wishes you a good holiday, but I also think he wants to know as little as possible," answers Steele, sipping his second glass. "Where are you going on your honeymoon?"  
  
"I thought it was your job to know everything?" retorts Blake, somewhat miffed.  
  
"Foreign Intelligence, old friend, foreign," Steele smiles, finishing his drink. "Greece is under my jurisdiction, Britain is under yours." He leans forward, confidentially. "I know you are heading to the Lake District. I just think it's better to pretend to learn things the normal way from time to time. Well, I will not delay you anymore."  
  
Blake and Steele rise and the captain shakes the commander's hand.  
  
"I still think I owe you a debt of gratitude, William! Again, thank you!"  
  
"You are welcome, Francis, really welcome." Steele walks him up to the door of his office. "Have a great holiday, Francis. And try to be a little more discreet! "  
  
Silently, Francis Blake salutes his MI6 counterpart. What can you say to that?  
  
After exiting the building, the captain sighs. He is now at the mercy of endless jokes about his private life from his MI6 counterpart, and he feels that this story will haunt him for a very, very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again Blackpenny for the time you spent editing and correcting !


End file.
